Solanum seaforthianum |
Solanum carolinense |
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Brazilian nightshade |
apple of sodom, bull nettle, Carolina horse-nettle, Carolina nightshade, devil's tomato, horse nettle |
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Habit | Herbs or shrubs, perennial, erect, sparsely to moderately armed, to 1.2 m, prickles cream to yellowish, straight, to 6 mm, sparsely to densely pubescent, hairs white to cream, sessile to short-stalked, stellate, 4(–8)-rayed, central ray 1–3(–5)-celled and to 3 mm, longer than lateral rays. | |||||
Leaves | petiolate; petioles twining around supports, 1–4 cm; blade simple to compound, elliptic to broadly ovate, (2–)3.5–10(–13) × (1–)2–9(–11) cm, margins entire to divided with up to 4 pairs of leaflets, leaflet margins entire, base truncate or slightly cordate. |
petiolate; petiole 0.4–4 cm; blade simple, ovate, lanceolate, or elliptic, 2–15 × 2–10 cm, margins subentire, sinuate, or lobed with 1–4 lobes per side, sometimes very deeply lobed almost to midrib, lobe margins entire to coarsely lobed, base cuneate. |
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Inflorescences | terminal, becoming lateral, extra-axillary, much-branched, to 100+-flowered, to 25+ cm. |
extra-axillary, unbranched or rarely forked, 2–12-flowered, 2–9 cm. |
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Pedicels | inserted into small sleeve on inflorescence axis, 0.8–1.4 cm in flower and fruit. |
0.5–1 cm in flower, 1.2–1.8 cm and curved downward in fruit. |
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Flowers | radially symmetric; calyx not accrescent, unarmed, ca. 0.5 mm, nearly truncate, glabrous or sparsely pubescent on lobe tips; corolla purple, stellate, 1–2.5 cm diam., with sparse interpetalar tissue; stamens unequal due to unequal filaments; anthers ellipsoidal, 2–3 mm, dehiscent by terminal pores; ovary glabrous. |
radially symmetric; calyx somewhat accrescent, unarmed or with sparse prickles, 5–8 mm, moderately stellate-pubescent, lobes lanceolate to elliptic-acuminate; corolla white to pale blue or violet, stellate to stellate-pentagonal or rotate-stellate, 2–3 cm diam., with interpetalar tissue at margins and bases of lobes; stamens equal; anthers narrow and tapered, 4.5–6.5 mm, dehiscent by terminal pores; ovary glabrous or sparsely to moderately glandular-puberulent, rarely moderately pubescent, hairs white, stellate or simple. |
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Berries | bright shiny red, globose, 0.8–1.5 cm diam., glabrous, without sclerotic granules. |
light green with darker green mottling or pale greenish white, turning bright yellow, subglobose to depressed-globose, 1–2 × 1–1.8 cm, glabrous, without sclerotic granules. |
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Seeds | pale yellowish tan, flattened, 4–4.5 × 2.5-3 mm, minutely pitted. |
yellow, flattened, 1.7–2.4 × 1.6–1.8 mm, minutely pitted. |
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Climbing | or scrambling vines, woody, unarmed, to ca. 3 m, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, hairs white, unbranched, ca. 0.2 mm. |
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2n | = 24. |
= 24. |
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Solanum seaforthianum |
Solanum carolinense |
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Phenology | Flowering year-round. | |||||
Habitat | Disturbed sites. | |||||
Elevation | 0–200 m. (0–700 ft.) | |||||
Distribution |
FL; Mexico; West Indies; Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama); South America (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela) [Introduced in North America; introduced also elsewhere in South America (Argentina, Paraguay, Peru), Asia, Africa, Pacific Islands, Australia]
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North America [Introduced in Europe, Asia, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia]
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Discussion | Solanum seaforthianum is widely cultivated as an ornamental and sporadically escapes in Florida. A similar species with twining petioles, S. laxum Sprengel, is occasionally cultivated in California. It is distinguished from S. seaforthianum by having tufts of hairs in the vein axils of the abaxial leaf surfaces, white rather than violet corollas, and equal stamens. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 14. | FNA vol. 14. | ||||
Parent taxa | Solanaceae > Solanum | Solanaceae > Solanum | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | Andrews: Bot. Repos. 8: plate 504. (1808) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 187. (1753) | ||||
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